Asian-Americans in California prefer Obama

SAN FRANCISCO (UPDATED) - California remains a safe state for Barack Obama, according to a multi-lingual survey conducted in September by the Institute of Government Studies at UC Berkeley and the New America Media.

The poll, conducted in English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Vietnamese aimed to paint the sentiment of ethnic minority groups that have accounted for more than 90 percent of California’s voter registration growth over the last two decades.

“If you could pull apart these data by age you would see very big differences between the younger Asian American voters and the middle and older Asian American voters. The younger Californians overall are heavily for Obama,” Field Poll Director Mark Di Camillo said.

From the administrations of Richard Nixon in the late 60s to George Bush Sr, California voted Republican. It turned into a blue state during the Clinton years and in 2008, Barrack Obama won in California by a 24-percent margin.

Field Poll believes it will likely do so again.

“To overcome the Latino preference for Democratic candidates they would have to win by at least 10 points among all other candidates which is a huge hurdle,” Di Camillo said.

The same poll shows California voters oppose granting driver’s licenses and in-state tuition discounts to undocumented immigrants though most voters support creating a path to citizenship.

“It’s interesting that the Chinese Americans are more likely than other populations to be supporting temporary work permits,” Di Camillo added.

It also showed that after years of unwavering support to capital punishment, California voters are now divided over whether to repeal the death penalty through a measure on the November 6 ballot.

Filipino-Americans were not included in the survey due to budget limitations. Field Poll said that when it poured over the list of registered voters, it didn't have enough funding to identify most Filipinos whose last names are similar to Latinos.

What Fil-Ams expect from Obama's 2nd term

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.—Jobs, immigration, the debt ceiling and social security reforms are what Americans should expect during President Obama’s next four years in office, according to vocal Democratic entrepreneur Loida Nicolas Lewis, who was the spokesperson for Filipino American Obama supporters in Balitang America’s town hall meeting.

“The entire United States can expect the passage of the American Jobs Act that the Republican Congress refused to pass. This will give more jobs to Americans,” said Lewis.

Lewis also said the nation should expect the passage of the much anticipated immigration reform during the coming administration.

She also added that there is still much to be done and expected from Obama to tackle the fiscal cliff the country is facing. She was also optimistic that Obama will put a fix to the governments bleeding Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security programs.

Health care entrepreneur Nimfa Gamez, who spoke for Romney supporters during Balitang America’s townhall meeting, said that though the Republican challenger did not win the election, her candidate did not fall short during his campaign.

“I don’t think he (Romney) did not have any shortcomings during his campaign. Her remained a gentleman,” said Gamez. “He did not trade insults though he was being called names like ‘Romnesia.’ I think he was not able to go against the barrage of negative ad campaigns toward him.”

Both party representatives agreed that in the next four years, both sides in the legislature will be in better agreement on issues affecting the nation.

“I think the men and women in the Congress and Senate, this time, will cooperate with President Obama more,” said Gamez.

“During the campaign, the politicians put a lot of pressure on us voters. This time, we the people, should put more pressure on legislators to pass the bills to help the country.”

But Lewis said some of the GOP’s ultra-conservative views will render the party irrelevant. “The strong message to the Tea Party is that if you are going to be very extreme, you will be defeated. So if the extreme Republicans in the Lower House prevent the passage of the Americans Jobs Act and the comprehensive immigration reform, they better watch out in 2014, they can be displaced.”